[16.] This line is too short by one syllable, or has archaic hiatus. See Versification,(4) a.
[19. las mis manos:] in old Spanish the article was often used before a possessive adjective that preceded its noun. This usage is now archaic or dialectic.
[21. hacía] is here exactly equivalent to hace in 1. 23: see note, p. 2, 1. 5.
[25. quien...me diese:] see note, p. 4, 1. I.
[8.—12. Oídolo había] = lo había oído.
[13.] This line is too long by one syllable.
[14.] Gil Vicente (1470?-1540?), a Portuguese poet who wrote dramas in both Portuguese and Castilian. A strong creative artist and thinker, Vicente is the greatest dramatist of Portugal and one of the great literary figures of the Peninsula. This Canción to the Madonna occurs in El auto de la Sibila Casandra, a religious pastoral drama. Vicente himself wrote music for the song, which was intended to accompany a dance. John Bowring made a very good metrical translation of the song (Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain, 1824, p. 315). Another may be found in Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature, I, 259.
[16. digas tú:] see note, p. 4, I. 22. el marinero: omit el in translation. In the Spanish of the ballads the article is regularly used with a noun in the vocative.
[24. pastorcico:] see note, p. 3, I. 3.
[9.]—Santa Teresa de Jesús (1515-1582), born at Ávila; became a Carmelite nun and devoted her life to reforming her Order and founding convents and monasteries. Saint Theresa believed herself inspired of God, and her devotional and mystic writings have a tone of authority. Her chief works in prose are the Castillo interior and the Camino de perfección. She is one of the greatest of Spanish mystics, and her influence is still potent (cf. Juan Valera, Pepita Jiménez; Huysmans, En route; et al.). Cf. Bibl. de Aut. Esp., vols. 53 and 55, for her works. This Letrilla has been translated by Longfellow ("Santa Teresa's Book-Mark," Riverside ed., 1886, VI., 216.)